Knife-Holding Man Is Killed by Deputy

An Orange County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot a knife-wielding man who allegedly refused to drop the weapon and moved toward officers despite being shot with a beanbag gun, a sheriff’s spokesman said Sunday.

John J. Rameriz, 42, had ignored repeated orders by the deputy and a Brea police officer to drop the butcher knife he was clutching, said the sheriff’s spokesman, Jim Amormino.

The officers had been sent to the home of Rameriz’s parents, on Mountain View Avenue in an unincorporated area near Yorba Linda, about 11 p.m. Saturday. They were responding to a report of domestic violence.

Rameriz’s estranged wife, who was not at the home when the shooting occurred, denied that Rameriz posed a threat to officers. Theresa Rameriz, 41, said she spoke to her father-in-law, John Rameriz, 70, who had told her he was restraining his son on the ground as police arrived.

But the younger Rameriz broke free and was “only half standing up” when the deputy fired and fatally shot him, she quoted her father-in-law as saying.

The slain man’s father had yelled to police, “Do not shoot! Do not shoot!” moments before the deputy opened fire, she said.

“I have watched television where they have bears up on electric poles who are vicious and they’re able to bring them down. If they shot him with a beanbag like they say they did, I would be talking to my husband right now,” she said.

According to police, the Brea officer and the deputy were confronted in the home’s driveway by the younger Rameriz, who was holding the knife. They repeatedly ordered him to drop the weapon, which he did not do, they said.

Rameriz advanced toward the two officers, prompting the Brea officer to fire a beanbag at him.

“But it was ineffective; the man just kept advancing,” Amormino said. “The officers ordered him to stop, and he did not stop and came toward them again. The sheriff’s deputy fired his service revolver because they were in fear of their lives.”

Rameriz was pronounced dead at the scene.

The names of the two officers were not released.

Before the shooting, Rameriz had been in an altercation with his father, mother and former girlfriend, according to police and family members.

His estranged wife said it was an argument between Rameriz and his former girlfriend that triggered it. The two had recently broken up, she said.

Rameriz and his wife were married for 18 years but were separated, she said.

It was the second time deputies had gone to the house to investigate a report of violence involving Rameriz.